OAKLAND, Calif.: Nothing has been easy for the Toronto Blue Jays this season, so really, why would this streak against the bottom of the league be any different? Even with the disparity in records and the talent gap between them and their opponents, winning under the pressure that comes with the importance of September is difficult, a task made even more complicated by injuries to Bo Bichette, Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen, and Erik Swanson. Buffalo’s squad has done an admirable job of covering their absences, but their presence only reinforces the reality that everything for this team is going to be tough going forward.
“We talked about it when Bo and Chappy got hurt, and I said it was going to be weird and tricky and dirty and tough and challenging. You have to embrace it, and I think the guys are doing that,” manager John Schneider said Monday night. tomorrow before his team’s Labor Day game against the Oakland Athletics. “This is just another example. You can’t just say, ‘These are three wins for sure because of his record.’ You have to be focused. You have to have energy. You have to have intention in everything you do. And with the guys who are in the team and the importance of each game, I think everything lines up quite well”.
Keep Winning 💯
Goodnight, #BlueJays fans 💙 pic.twitter.com/oQVDuAgP0V
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 5, 2023
All of that played out in the three hours that followed, as the Blue Jays built a three-run lead in the fifth inning, blew it on solo homers in the three straight innings that followed, and then scored three times in the tenth, just right. to pull off an awkward 6-5 victory. Pinch hitter Santiago Espinal sparked the decisive comeback by hitting Francisco Pérez’s first pitch into the left-field corner for an RBI double, Cavan Biggio added an RBI single, and Spencer Horwitz hit another run-scoring double. with a second run canceled because the ball caught under the right field fence.
Jordan Romano, who retired two batters in the ninth inning, gave up a two-run homer to Lawrence Butler to lead off the bottom of the inning but then rallied to close out the game before a crowd of 9,062 at Oakland Coliseum, moving the Blue Jays (76-62) a half-game behind the Texas Rangers (76-61), who lost 13-6 to the Houston Astros (78-61) for the final wild-card spot. Never a dull moment.
“It feels great, especially right now where we’re in September baseball, every game counts, especially the position we’re in right now,” said Espinal, who is now 8-13 in his last few games. six games. “Every game counts and even though that team is out of contention, we’ve got to take advantage of those teams and I feel like we’ve been doing really well. We’ve got to keep doing that and be aggressive at the plate and be consistent.”
Biggio added, aside from his two hits and two RBIs, he also made a spectacular eighth-inning catch on a groundout by Zack Gelof to help prevent a run: “Having that culture of finding ways to win games no matter what’s more important as we approach the home stretch. The Blue Jays leaned on that during their last high-stress game.
Stumped through the first four innings by Luis Medina, who was activated from the disabled list to replace Ken Waldichuk, they seemed to take control in the fifth when they loaded the bases with no outs, opened the scoring on a double play by Kevin Kiermaier and then they added two more on George Springer’s RBI double and Biggio’s RBI single.
But José Berríos, putting behind a string of three bad games in four solid six-inning outings, gave up a solo homer to Butler, who perfectly timed a decently placed slurve, in the same fifth inning and then another in the sixth, when Ryan Noda hit a gear change.
That was all the damage against the ace right-hander, who struck out seven and walked one, but in the seventh, Jordan Di
Ready for the race 🏁
Be here for the September Sprint!
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 1, 2023
Originally posted 2023-09-05 14:43:22.
